Formula One world champion Max Verstappen has delayed his arrival for this weekend's Saudi Arabia Grand Prix because of a stomach bug.
The Red Bull driver, who dominated the season-opening race in Bahrain two weeks ago, revealed he has been struggling with the illness this week.
But Verstappen still expects to be fit for Friday's practice in Jeddah. “Feeling fine again, after not being fit for a few days because of a stomach bug,” the 25-year-old Dutchman wrote on Twitter.
“Therefore, I unfortunately had to postpone my flight for a day, so I won't be on the track until Friday.”
Verstappen's Red Bull team tweeted: “Max has been suffering from a stomach illness over the past few days and, with the agreement of the FIA, will not be present at track today. Feel better, Max.”
The Dutchman, who is looking to make it a hat-trick of titles by lifting the crown again this season, sealed a comprehensive victory in Bahrain.
He led home led home a Red Bull one-two finish at the first race, with teammate Sergio Perez second and Fernando Alonso third for Aston Martin.
While Verstappen may start as clear favourite in Saudi Arabia, all eyes will be on Alonso after his surprising podium finish.
The 41-year-old Spaniard has played down high expectations of a repeat in his sleek new Aston Martin but he knows that the high-speed Jeddah Street Circuit offers a very different challenge to man and machine.
“I think that we found, in Bahrain, that we were strong in things that maybe we won't have in Jeddah, or in Melbourne,” he said.
Verstappen wins Bahrain GP
“So, if we are strong again, in these two races, I think we are going to have a very good year.
“I am curious about these races – very different circuits, with high-speed corners and very low degradation. It's going to be very different.”
Ferrari, under new management and enthused by fresh hope, will also want to make a statement at a circuit where they finished second and third last season, but will start on the back foot with Charles Leclerc taking a 10-place grid penalty for taking a new electronic control unit.
After a disappointing, if not desultory, display at the season-opener, Mercedes, similarly, require a much-improved showing to lift morale.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and George Russell struggled for pace in Bahrain and are likely to suffer a similar fate on Sunday.
It's up to you to go green
Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.
“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”
When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.
He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.
“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.
One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.
The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.
Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.
But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
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Global Fungi Facts
• Scientists estimate there could be as many as 3 million fungal species globally
• Only about 160,000 have been officially described leaving around 90% undiscovered
• Fungi account for roughly 90% of Earth's unknown biodiversity
• Forest fungi help tackle climate change, absorbing up to 36% of global fossil fuel emissions annually and storing around 5 billion tonnes of carbon in the planet's topsoil
